A Bad Case of Ennui
by Cordetta
Summary: When Pouncival and Tumblebrutus overhear Jenny telling Munkustrap that he has a bad case of ennui, the kits decide to take things into their own hands.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Cats otherwise I'd change the dates that the local theatre group is performing it to when I'm not on the other side of the company… **

It was a stifling hot day. Any cat in the sun simply lounged about, not bothering to lift their heads whilst talking. Even the kittens had confined their games to the shade. Life in the Jellicle Junkyard had come to a near standstill.

Munkustrap sat on the tyre, the only cat still actively watching the kittens.

"Jenny," he called down to the sleeping queen. "Should I be stopping Pouncival from rolling in the dust?"

Two bright eyes looked up at him from the bonnet of the TSE1. "Don't worry about it," Jennyanydots said with a stifled yawn. "Soon it'll be dinnertime; I'll make him clean up then."

"Okay."

Jennyanydots sighed and sat up. "Munkus, why don't you go do something else, out of the sun?"

The silver tabby barely shook his head. "I'm too hot. I'd rather be out here in the fresh air even if I am bored to tears."

Jennyanydots chuckled thinly. "It sounds like you have a bad case of ennui."

Munkustrap inclined his head in agreement, and left the queen to her nap.

The seven kittens had finally come to a rest from their games. The queen-kits sat still, listening to Etcetera as she ran the forty-first-and-a-quarter meeting of the Rum Tum Tugger Fan Club. Tumblebrutus and Mistoffelees lazily watched a very dusty Pouncival chase a small light around the shade of the TSE1. Tumblebrutus turned to Mistoffelees with a wicked grin.

"How long before he realises that the light is coming from you?"

Mistoffelees thought for a moment, a slight smile on his face. "Now or never," he muttered, half to himself.

The small light suddenly winked out and Pouncival screeched to a halt, searching around with a very confused look on his face. He trotted over to the other tomkits, as Tumblebrutus smirked. "My guess is never."

The conversation that was occurring above them floated down. "...you have a bad case of ennui..."

Pouncival and Tumblebrutus shot a puzzled look at each other, then leapt up to spy Munkustrap's receding form.

"Okay, everyone calm down, the meeting is about to begin."

Everyone stared at Etcetera for a moment, then resumed sitting silently behind the bed-frame.

Etcetera turned to Tumblebrutus and announced gleefully, "You may now proceed to tell us why you have called an emergency KIT meeting."

Tumblebrutus gazed at the other kittens, before speaking. "Pouncival and I have reason to believe that Munkustrap is severely ill. We all heard Jenny tell him that he had a bad case of ennui. We think this means he's really sick, like when Gus had that 'bad case of flu', or, or..."

"When Cori and Tant had that 'bad case of migraines'." Electra interjected enthusiastically.

"Yeah, or like when Pounce had that 'bad case of fleas'."

Pouncival, who until this moment had been smiling and nodding eagerly, turned and glared at Tumblebrutus.

"I do _not_ have fleas, you mangy Pollicle!" he yelled as he leapt on his friend and began to wrestle him to the ground.

"Toms, toms," yelled Etcetera, who was frantically trying to regain control.

Jemima and Victoria squealed and took cover as the tussling toms drew nearer.

"Get him Tumble!" shrieked Electra. "Nice hit Pounce!"

Etcetera looked around desperately, and with a loud bang, the tomkits flew apart. They got up and glared at Mistoffelees, who was sitting down and smiling innocently at them.

"I was under the impression that this was important," he pointed out quietly.

"Thanks Misto," Etcetera said, before turning back to Tumblebrutus. "So Munk's sick, what does that mean for us?"

Tumblebrutus had the sense to look sheepish as he continued with his speech. "So, our job is to discover what ennui is and how to cure it."

A long silence stretched between the kittens.

Jemima spoke up with a thoughtful voice. "If we list Daddy's symptoms, maybe we can make a match if ennui has another name."

"Good thinking," Pouncival smiled at her.

Etcetera bounded into her 'leader mode'. "Electra, get ready to write down a list. Fever"

Seeing Electra's sceptical expression, Etcetera hastened to explain. "He said he felt hot. That means a high temperature, and THAT means a fever."

Electra shrugged and noted it down.

"Madness."

Everyone turned and stared incredulously at Mistoffelees.

"What?" he asked. "The twins told me once that ennui is another word for boredom. Whenever I'm bored silly, I always end up doing something insane."

"Like the time you decided to paint Old Deuteronomy purple?" asked Jemima.

"Mistoffelees looked startled. "I guess, but..."

"Or when you made Tugger's fur fall off?" suggested Tumblebrutus.

"That wasn't insane, that was just stupid," said Etcetera mournfully, not noticing Pouncival gagging behind her. "The RTTFC had to talk about his eyes and his belt, though they are wonderful too."

"How about when you made Jenny and Teazer switch bodies?" grinned Electra.

"Well, that was..."

"And there's the time you put a bell on Cori's tail," smiled Victoria.

"And when..."

"ALRIGHT!" Mistoffelees yelled. "I've done a lot of ridiculous things, we get the point. Do we agree on madness?"

Tumblebrutus nodded and Electra dutifully wrote it down.

"Is ennui really boredom?" Victoria enquired and Mistoffelees nodded. "So does that mean Munkustrap is going to leave us," Victoria asked fearfully. "Because whenever I get bored with something, I always leave to do something else."

The kittens looked dazedly around at each other, trying to imagine a Junkyard without Munkustrap.

No Munkustrap to protect everyone from Macavity. No Munkus to help them when they were hurt. No-one to argue with Tugger, no-one to prank and laugh at, no-one to tell them stories when they were caught giggling after bed.

_No Daddy to give me hugs when I'm scared,_ thought Jemima sadly.

"Daddy can't leave, he just can't!" she cried.

A loud gasp drew everyone's attention towards Etcetera. "Jem, I don't think he has a choice. Otherwise he'll die!"

A stunned silence met this proclamation.

"What?" "Why?" How?" "Don't be ridiculous Cetty!" came a chorus of voices.

"No!" Etcetera persisted. "Think about it! What about the saying 'I'm going to die of boredom'? It says _die_! Gus says that everything has a seed of truth in it. I think ennui must be a fatal disease that causes boredom. So people really can die of boredom."

A babble of noise rose after this little speech. Finally, Tumblebrutus caught everyone's attention with a little help from Mistoffelees.

"SO, fellow KITs, we have two options. Either Munkustrap leaves, or we find a cure to ennui."

The kittens all nodded to one another. Suddenly Pouncival turned to Tumblebrutus.

"How are we going to find the cure?"

"We could always ask Jenny." All heads turned to Victoria. "She's so good at making everyone better, she's sure to know something."

Etcetera leapt to her feet. "What are we waiting for, let's go!"

**AN: I hope you enjoyed this. It's been a while since I've tried my hand at Cats, so please let me know what you think :) I'm planning for this to be a few chapters long but I guess we'll see where the muse takes it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Cats. I'm just playing. Also I still can't go to the local school performance, but that's beside the point.**

The kittens bounded off eagerly to find Jennyanydots. They spotted her napping on the TSE1, and ran over excitedly.

"Jenny, we've got a question," yelled Pouncival, startling Jennyanydots from her rest.

A chorus of voices began to talk over one another, as the kittens enthusiastically tried to tell their story.

"What's ennui?"

"...and then Munkus..."

"How do you..."

"He can't leave..."

"Hold up," Jennyanydots said laughing as she sat up and tried to make sense of the babble of noise. "What's going on?"

All eyes turned to Etcetera, who looked around importantly before launching into a short version of the tale.

"Well, Tumble and Pounce said they heard you saying that Munkus had a 'bad case of ennui'. And we reckon that we got to cure it before he gets mad and leaves."

Jennyanydots shook her head and smiled slightly. "Cetty, ennui is just..."

"Just boredom, Misto told us. And he always goes crazy when he's bored, like when he followed Tumble around making him trip over nothing all the time, and..."

"Hold on," Tumblebrutus cut in, turning to glare at Mistoffelees. "That was _you_?"

Mistoffelees glared at Etcetera, before turning just in time to see Tumblebrutus flying at him.

"Hey, get off!"

"I got a con...con... head hurting thing because of you!"

"Kittens!" Jennyanydots sharply cut across the squabbling.

There was a sudden rush of air and Mistoffelees vanished. Tumblebrutus fell flat on his face. The other kittens looked around, spotting Mistoffelees looking nervous but defiant from the chair on top of the nearest junkpile.

"Really Tumblebrutus, control yourself," Jennyanydots admonished. "This is all in the past."

She called Mistoffelees down from his perch, and then sighed. "If you wish to cure Munkus's 'ennui', then you may do so if possible."

"If possible?" Victoria interrupted in trepidation.

"Of course Victoria, you mustn't annoy the poor cat after all."

"We won't," shouted Etcetera in excitement. "We'll cure him, wait and see Jenny!" She looked at the others, glancing significantly towards the bedframe. "Come on everyone, let's get to head-thundering!"

"Brainstorming," Jennyanydots called after her, laughing quietly at the young kit's enthusiasm.

"Perhaps I should warn Munkustrap," she mused, "although, he'll definitely be cured with that lot after him." Jennyanydots chuckled. "No, Munkus may well benefit from this little intervention."

"Right, I now call this KIT meeting to order."

Etcetera looked around importantly. "Jenny has confirmed Munk is sick. It's up to us to cure him.

"But Jenny doesn't know the cure!" said Victoria frowning. "If Jenny can't fix him, how can we?"

Etcetera smiled brightly at Victoria. "Not to worry Vicky. It's like Gus told me; 'Two heads of brains are better than one full of fluff.' And we've got seven heads. We can do it I promise."

Ignoring Victoria's slightly doubtful look, Etcetera ploughed on, her tail twitching with excitement. "Does anyone got any ideas?" she exclaimed happily. "Go on Misto, you're smart. What do you think?"

Mistoffelees looked up, rather startled at being addressed so loudly. He frowned thinking it through carefully.

"Anyday, you hedgehog!" exclaimed Etcetera impatiently.

"Calm down Cetty," Mistoffelees said, rolling his eyes. "I know we've got to cure Munk quick, but getting things wrong could make it worse!"

Etcetera swallowed nervously and nodded. Satisfied that she wasn't going to be interrupted, Mistoffelees looked inquisitively at Victoria.

"What was it you said this morning about ennui? Something about leaving?"

Victoria cocked her head on its side, thinking. "Oh! Just that I leave what I'm doing to try something else when I'm bored. But how does that help us?"

Mistoffelees grinned, the relief clear on his face. "Well then, we've just got to keep Munkustrap busy trying lots of different things!"

"Wait, what?" interjected Tumblebrutus. "What sort of things?"

"I get it," spoke up Jemima. "He's trying to say that if we give Daddy lots of new things to do, he won't be bored anymore, and his ennui will be cured!"

"Like how Rumpus started teaching the Pollicles to play hide and seek?" enquired Pouncival. "Only I remember him saying they were only destroying things because they were bored and had nothing better to do."

"Yeah," agreed Electra. "I remember that too! He hasn't had any trouble in a while because they're all busy playing!"

"Playing?" said Etcetera. "That's it!" She leapt up from her place on the floor beaming. "We've got to get Munkus to _play_!"

"But play what?" asked Tumblebrutus. "Munk always plays hide and seek and tag with us. It's got to be something he's not done before."

"Ooh! He could come to one of our meetings!" squealed Etcetera. "He's not come to a Rum Tum Tugger Fan Club meeting before!"

"Don't be silly Cetty, why would he want to go to that?" asked Mistoffelees in disgust. "No, he'd much rather watch a magic show!"

"Ooh, you and your magic," cried Etcetera in exasperation. "Why would he want to sit around watching _you_, when he could come with us and join in with the Fan Club!"

"You're both daft, he's the Jellicle Protector," exclaimed Tumblebrutus. "So, _obviously_, he'd prefer to do some playfighting with me!"

This unleashed a flood of noise as each kitten tried to explain their own idea to the others. The babble grew steadily louder, until finally Jemima yelled for silence.

"STOP!" she cried. "Just stop it. This isn't helping Daddy. Can't we all just have a go at fixing him?"

The other kittens looked shamefully at Jemima's scared face.

"Of course Jemmy," said Victoria kindly. She looked around at the others. "But we've all got such different ideas."

"All the better then," said Pouncival. "We're far more likely to find the cure if we're all trying different things." He grinned, looking over at Jemima. "We'll work it out Jem, you'll see."

"Bags I go first," shouted Etcetera suddenly.

A groan rose from the group along with many complaints.

"No fair," said Electra glaring at her friend. "We didn't get a chance."

"For Heaviside's sake Cetty," groaned Tumblebrutus. "Electra, we'll draw pebbles. That will make it fair for everyone."

Mistoffelees conjured some numbered pebbles quickly, before giving them to Jemima to distribute. Everyone shut their eyes as the pebbles were passed around.

"Ok, open up"

There was silence as everyone examined their pebble, hoping it had been them who got to cure Munkustrap first.

"Yes!" cried Electra. "It's me! I'm first! Me!"

"Last!" cried Pouncival. "Why am I always last?"

"Because you're the youngest," said Etcetera, sticking her tongue out at the tomkit. "Yay for you E!"

"I'm not the youngest," muttered Pouncival. "Just because you and Vicky and Tumble are bigger than me. I'm older than Jem by nearly 3 moons."

"Oh, stop pouting Pounce," said Victoria impatiently. "You'll get your turn."

Etcetera grinned at the other kittens. "So, I now conclude this KIT meeting. Electra, good luck for tomorrow." Solemnly, she nudged her friend. "Munkustrap's life now lies in your hands."

**AN: Thank you for reading and a special thank you to those who took the time to review. I was thrilled to find that people are enjoying this. So a MASSIVE thanks to you! **

**(That thanks will extend to you if you press that button below! :D)**


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